Contents

The 79th Infantry Division began mobilization on March 1, 1939, as a part of the second German "wave" system of mobilization. The "wave" was the German designation for groups of infantry divisions raised at approximately the same time, with approximately the same type of organization, equipment, personnel and training. Raised from Rheinlanders in the German Military District (Wehrkreis) XII, and headquartered in Wiesbaden, the home station of the 79th was Koblenz. It was designated as a Division on August 26, 1939. Assigned to the French-German border in the Saar region, the 79th trained and worked on the West Wall. The Division saw action against the French on the Saar Front on May 10, 1940, when it was part of the invasion forces. In June, the division participated in attacks on the Maginot Line and the capture of Epinal. The Cross of Lorraine(Lothringer Kreuz) was designated as the symbol. Unteroffizier Werner Psaar stated that since the division's first combat was mainly in the Lorraine region, this is what led to the symbol. From June 1940 until April 1941, the division was on occupation duty and trained for Operation Sea Lion - the projected invasion of Great Britain. The 79th was relocated to Klagenfurt in April 1941 but was too late for the invasion of Yugoslavia. The Division was assigned to Army Group South for Operation Operation Barbarossa on June 26, 1941. From June 1941 until September 1942, the 79th fought in southern Russia.

In October 1942 from positions in front of the Red Army bridgehead across the Don at Serafimovich to Stalingrad. This late weakening of the 6th Army's left flank to replace the serious infantry losses in the Stalingrad city battle contributed to the success of Operation Uranus, as Red Army's northern pincer axis of attack rolled through the 79th's former positions, which were given over to the Romanian 5th Infantry division.

The division began its attack on Stalingrad on October 17, 1942. The fighting in the Red October Tractor Factory was fiercely contended, hall by hall. When the Soviet Offensive started on November 19, 1942, the 79th was one of the units trapped in the "kessel" (or cauldron), when it was surrounded on November 24. The Sixth Army surrendered on January 31, 1943. The division staff, including the Ia (Operations Officer) Oberst Hans Schwanbeck, was flown out of Stalingrad on January 8–9, 1943. The division, including its commander, Generalleutnant Alexander von Daniels, surrendered to the Red Army when the German forces capitulated.

The division was reformed from the remnants of other units outside of the Soviet encirclement on January 12, 1943. The division then took part in operations in the Novocherkassk area until relieved on March 13, 1943. It refitted in the Volnovakha area and in April 1943, returned to battle. It fought a number of defensive actions before reaching the Kuban bridgehead in August 1943. The division was evacuated to the Ukraine retreating west with the rest of the German forces.

1944 found the 79th in Romania as a part of IV Korps, 6th Army. By August, the 79th was one of the divisions attempting to hold the city of Jassy. On August 23, 1944, with the Romanian coup, the 79th was once again encircled and virtually annihilated near Chitcani, Romania on the Berlad River. Less than 1,000 soldiers managed to escape. Generalleutnant Friedrich Weinknecht and the division surrendered to the Red Army.

On October 27, 1944, the division was raised again outside the Welle system, this time in West Prussia and now as the 79th Volksgrenadier Division (79. Volks-Grenadier-Division). It had only ten percent combat veterans and was largely made up by absorbing the 586th Volksgrenadier Division (Katzbach). On December 11, 1944, the 79th Volksgrenadier Division was assigned to 7. Armee a reserve force near Bitburg, Germany. Although at half strength, the 79th was to take part in Operation Herbstnebel.

On December 21, 1944, the 79th VG moved towards its assembly area near Diekirch, Luxembourg. On December 24, 1944, the Volksgrenadiers in conjunction with the Führer Grenadier Brigade, launched a series of attacks against the Blue Ridge Division, the 80th Infantry Division (United States). The objective was to seize the town of Heiderscheid, which included a strategic bridge across the Sure River. Both units suffered very heavy losses, particularly when on December 26 most of the 79th VG artillery and FGB armor was destroyed by American fighter bombers. The 79th VG began falling back towards the town of Baunscheid, to hold another strategic bridgehead there; it was unable to hold against the US 80th Infantry Division.

After Heavy fighting continued into January 1945, the Division fell to US forces at Heidelberg and Darmstadt. Remnants of the 79th fought in the vicinity of Rothenburg ob der Tauber under the name Battle Group (Kampfgruppe) "Hummel" in mid-April. This last organized unit of the 79th Volksgrenadier Division surrendered to US Forces on April 14, 1945. Grenadiers of the 79th Volksgrenadier Division fought small unit actions in the Alps.

1.
Nazi Germany
–
Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943

2.
Infantry
–
Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice

3.
Division (military)
–
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength, in most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In the West, the first general to think of organising an army into smaller units was Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France. He died at the age of 54, without having implemented his idea, victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the system in the Seven Years War. The first war in which the system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War. It made the more flexible and easy to manoeuvre. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size, napoleons military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, the peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms, in this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II, in general, two new types of cavalry were developed, air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division, formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, on 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, before its departure for the Vietnam War. After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks, the development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks, instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was a division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II

4.
Wehrmacht
–
The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler’s most overt and audacious moves was to establish the Wehrmacht, a modern armed forces fully capable of offensive use. In December 1941, Hitler designated himself as commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht formed the heart of Germany’s politico-military power. In the early part of World War II, Hitlers generals employed the Wehrmacht through innovative combined arms tactics to devastating effect in what was called a Blitzkrieg, the Wehrmachts new military structure, unique combat techniques, newly developed weapons, and unprecedented speed and brutality crushed their opponents. Closely cooperating with the SS, the German armed forces committed war crimes and atrocities. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, only a few of the Wehrmacht’s upper leadership were tried for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. The German term Wehrmacht generically describes any nations armed forces, for example, the Frankfurt Constitution of 1848 designated all German military forces as the German Wehrmacht, consisting of the Seemacht and the Landmacht. In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution, establishing that, from 1919, Germanys national defense force was known as the Reichswehr, a name that was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918, in March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420, 000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, the army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military, the Reichswehr, was established on 23 March 1921, General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt, though Seeckt retired in 1926, the army that went to war in 1939 was largely his creation. Germany was forbidden to have an air-force by the Versailles treaty, nonetheless and these officers saw the role of an air-force as winning air-superiority, tactical and strategic bombing and providing ground support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles Treaty, a secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms, Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany

5.
Koblenz
–
Koblenz, also spelled Coblenz or Coblence, is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated. As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the name Koblenz originates from Latin confluentes, confluence or merging of rivers. Subsequently, it was Covelenz and Cobelenz, in the local dialect the name is Kowelenz. After Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, it is the third largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate, around 1000 BC, early fortifications were erected on the Festung Ehrenbreitstein hill on the opposite side of the Moselle. In 55 BC, Roman troops commanded by Julius Caesar reached the Rhine, about 9 BC, the Castellum apud Confluentes, was one of the military posts established by Drusus. Remains of a bridge built in 49 AD by the Romans are still visible. The Romans built two castles as protection for the bridge, one in 9 AD and another in the 2nd century, north of Koblenz was a temple of Mercury and Rosmerta, which remained in use up to the 5th century. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was conquered by the Franks, after the division of Charlemagnes empire, it was included in the lands of his son Louis the Pious. In 860 and 922, Koblenz was the scene of ecclesiastical synods, at the first synod, held in the Liebfrauenkirche, the reconciliation of Louis the German with his half-brother Charles the Bald took place. The city was sacked and destroyed by the Norsemen in 882, in 925, it became part of the eastern German Kingdom, later the Holy Roman Empire. In 1018, the city was given by the emperor Henry II to the archbishop-elector of Trier after receiving a charter and it remained in the possession of his successors until the end of the 18th century, having been their main residence since the 17th century. Emperor Conrad II was elected here in 1138, in 1198, the battle between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV took place nearby. In 1216, prince-bishop Theoderich von Wied donated part of the lands of the basilica and the hospital to the Teutonic Knights, the city was a member of the league of the Rhenish cities which rose in the 13th century. The Teutonic Knights founded the Bailiwick of Koblenz in or around 1231, Koblenz attained great prosperity and it continued to advance until the disaster of the Thirty Years War brought about a rapid decline. After Philip Christopher, elector of Trier, surrendered Ehrenbreitstein to the French, however, this force was soon expelled by the Swedes, who in their turn handed the city over again to the French. Imperial forces finally succeeded in retaking it by storm in 1636, the city was the residence of the archbishop-electors of Trier from 1690 to 1801. In 1786, the last archbishop-elector of Trier, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, greatly assisted the extension and improvement of the city, the archbishop-elector approved of this because he was the uncle of the persecuted king of France, Louis XVI. Among the many royalist French refugees who flooded into the city were Louis XVIs two younger brothers, the Comte de Provence and the Comte dArtois

6.
Western Wall
–
The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall. The Western Wall is considered due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though it is not the holiest site in the Jewish faith, which lies behind it. The original, natural and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top, on top of this box-like structure Herod built a vast paved esplanade which surrounded the Temple. Of the four retaining walls, the one is considered to be closest to the former Temple. The term Wailing Wall is not used by Jews and increasingly many others who consider it derogatory, in a broader sense, Western Wall can refer to the entire 488 metre-long retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, from the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none was successful. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. This period ended on June 10,1967, when Israel gained control of the following the Six-Day War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza. The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term ha-kotel ha-maaravi, the Western Wall, the name Wailing Wall, and descriptions such as wailing place, appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German and this term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-Mabka, or Place of Weeping, the traditional Arabic term for the wall. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn, at some time in the 19th century, the Arabs began referring to the wall as the al-Buraq Wall. This was based on the tradition that inside the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his miraculous winged steed, al-Buraq. The tradition on which this is based only states that the Prophet, or the angel Jibrail, tethered the steed at the gate of the mosque, meaning, at the gate of the Temple Mount. Israeli archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov concluded that the Muslim association with Western Wall began in the nineteenth century in response to renewed Jewish identification with the site. The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot exposed section of ancient wall situated on the flank of the Temple Mount

7.
Maginot Line
–
A response to Frances experience in World War I, the Maginot Line was constructed in the run-up to World War II, after the Locarno Conference gave rise to a fanciful and optimistic Locarno spirit. Nevertheless, it proved ineffective during the Battle of France. Instead of attacking directly, the Germans invaded through the Low Countries, however, the French line was weak near the Ardennes forest, a region whose rough terrain they considered unlikely for the Germans to traverse. The German Army took advantage of this point to split the French–British defensive front. The Allied forces to the north were forced to evacuate at Dunkirk, having failed in its purpose, the line has since become a metaphor for expensive efforts that offer a false sense of security. The defences were first proposed by Marshal Joffre and he was opposed by modernists such as Paul Reynaud and Charles de Gaulle who favoured investment in armour and aircraft. Joffre had support from Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, and there were a number of reports and it was André Maginot who finally convinced the government to invest in the scheme. Maginot was another veteran of World War I, he became the French Minister of Veteran Affairs, in January 1923 after Germany defaulted on reparations, the French Premier Raymond Poincaré had French troops march in and occupy the Ruhr region of Germany in response. The British—who openly championed the German position on reparations—applied intense economic pressure on France to change its policies towards Germany. The British diplomat Sir Eric Phipps who attended the conference commented afterwards that, from 1871 onwards, French elites had concluded that France had no hope of defeating Germany on its own, and France would need an alliance with another great power to defeat the Reich. A variant of the Foch plan had used by Poincaré in 1923 when he ordered the French occupation of the Ruhr. French plans for an offensive in the 1920s were realistic, as Versailles had forbidden Germany conscription, French military chiefs were dubious about their ability to win another war against Germany on its own, especially an offensive war. France had an alliance with Belgium and with the states of the Cordon sanitaire, the French assumption was always that Germany would not go to war without conscription, which would allow the German Army to take advantage of the Reichs numerical superiority. Without the natural defensive barrier provided by the Rhine river, French generals argued that France needed a new defensive barrier made of concrete and steel to replace it. Part of the rationale for the Maginot Line stemmed from the severe French losses during the First World War, and their effect on the French population. The drop in the birth rate during and after the war, resulting in a shortage of young men. Static defensive positions were intended not only to buy time but to economise on men by defending an area with fewer. Germany had the largest economy in Europe but lacked many of the raw materials necessary for an industrial economy

8.
Cross of Lorraine
–
The Cross of Lorraine was originally a heraldic cross. The two-barred cross consists of a vertical line crossed by two horizontal bars. In most renditions, the bars are graded with the upper bar being the shorter. The Lorraine name has come to signify several cross variations, including the cross with its bars near the top. The Cross of Lorraine consists of one vertical and two horizontal bars, the Cross of Lorraine came from the Kingdom of Hungary to the Duchy of Lorraine. In Hungary, Béla III was the first monarch to use the cross as the symbol of royal power in the late 12th century. He probably adopted it from the Byzantine Empire, according to historian Pál Engel, René II, Duke of Lorraine inherited the two-barred cross as a symbol from his ancestors from the House of Anjou. His grandfather, René the Good, who used it as his sigil, laid claim to four kingdoms. The cross was known as the cross of Anjou in the 16th century. René II placed the symbol on his flag before the Battle of Nancy in January 1477, in the battle, René defeated the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who had occupied the Duchy of Lorraine, and regained his duchy. All coins struck for René bore the symbol thereafter, the Cross of Lorraine is an emblem of Lorraine in eastern France. Between 1871 and 1918, the quarter of Lorraine was annexed to Germany. During that period the Cross served as a point for French ambitions to recover its lost provinces. This historical significance lent it considerable weight as a symbol of French patriotism, during World War II, Capitaine de corvette Thierry dArgenlieu suggested the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle as an answer to the Nazi swastika. In France, the Cross of Lorraine was the symbol of Free France during World War II, the liberation of France from Nazi Germany, the Cross was displayed on the flags of Free French warships, and the fuselages of Free French aircraft. The medal of the Order of Liberation bears the Cross of Lorraine, de Gaulle himself is memorialised by a 43-metre high Cross of Lorraine in his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. The Cross of Lorraine was later adopted by Gaullist political groups such as the Rally for the Republic, French Jesuit missionaries and settlers to the New World carried the Cross of Lorraine c. The symbol was said to have helped the missionaries to convert the peoples they encountered

9.
Operation Sea Lion
–
Operation Sea Lion was Nazi Germanys code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. A large number of barges were gathered together on the Channel coast, Adolf Hitler hoped for a negotiated peace with the UK, and made no preparations for amphibious assault on Britain until the Fall of France. At the time, the forces with experience of, or modern equipment for naval landings were the Japanese. In September 1939, the German invasion of Poland was a success, on 9 October, Hitlers Directive No. Reinicke spent five days on this study and set forth the following prerequisites, Eliminating or sealing off Royal Navy forces from the landing, destroying all Royal Navy units in the coastal zone. Preventing British submarine action against the landing fleet, the OKW considered the options and Hitlers 29 November Directive No. This directive remained in force in the first phase of the Battle of Britain, in December 1939, the German Army issued its own study paper and solicited opinions and input from both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. The paper outlined an assault on Englands eastern coast between The Wash and the River Thames by troops crossing the North Sea from ports in the Low Countries. The Kriegsmarine response was focused on pointing out the difficulties to be surmounted if invading England was to be a viable option. It could not envisage taking on the Royal Navy Home Fleet, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, responded with a single-page letter in which he stated, combined operation having the objective of landing in England must be rejected. It could only be the act of an already victorious war against Britain as otherwise the preconditions for success of a combined operation would not be met. Germanys swift and successful occupation of France and the Low Countries gained control of the Channel coast, on 21 May 1940 Raeder met Hitler and raised the topic of invasion, but warned of the risks and expressed a preference for blockade by air, submarines and surface raiders. British parliamentarians still arguing for peace negotiations were defeated in the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis, in a report presented on 30 June, the OKW Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl reviewed options to increase pressure on Britain to agree to a negotiated peace. The first priority was to eliminate the Royal Air Force and gain air supremacy, Intensified air attacks against shipping and the economy could affect food supplies and civilian morale in the long term. Reprisal attacks of terror bombing had the potential to cause quicker capitulation, at a meeting that day, OKW Chief of Staff General Franz Halder heard from Secretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker that Hitler had turned his attention to Russia. On 1 July Halder met Admiral Otto Schniewind, and they shared views without understanding each others position, both thought that air superiority was needed first, and could make the invasion unnecessary. They agreed that minefields and U-boats could limit the threat posed by the Royal Navy, a Luftwaffe report presented to the OKW at a meeting on 11 July said that it would take 14 to 28 days to achieve air superiority. The meeting also heard that England was discussing an agreement with Russia, Hitler agreed with him that invasion would be a last resort

Werner Goldberg (1919 – 2004), who was blond and blue-eyed, was used in Wehrmacht recruitment posters as the "ideal German soldier". He was later "dismissed" after it became known that he was a "Mischling ersten Grades" as defined by the Nuremberg Laws, having half Jewish ancestry.

Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for the Axis powers invasion of the Soviet …

Clockwise from top left: German soldiers advance through Northern Russia, German flamethrower team in the Soviet Union, Soviet planes flying over German positions near Moscow, Soviet prisoners of war on the way to German prison camps, Soviet soldiers fire at German positions.

The Marcks Plan was the original German plan of attack for Operation Barbarossa, as depicted in an US Government study (March 1955).

German soldiers (Flamethrower team) in the Soviet Union, June 1941

Marshal Zhukov speaking at a military conference in Moscow, September 1941